LONDON – John Lennon’s personal diaries reveal that he was a staunch conservative and a registered Republican.

LONDON – John Lennon’s personal diaries reveal that he was a staunch conservative and a registered Republican.

John Lennon was a closet Republican, who felt a little embarrassed by his former radicalism, at the time of his death – according to the tragic Beatles star’s last personal assistant.

Fred Seaman worked alongside the music legend from 1970 to Lennon’s death at the end of 1980 and he reveals the star was a Ronald Reagan fan who enjoyed arguing with left-wing radicals who reminded him of his former self. Lennon felt that people are “liberals” and “democrats” until their brains are fully formed – then, when they can “think properly” they must become a Republican.

David Mamet, who just published his book, A Secret Knowledge, which is about h is conversion to conservatism, said that he agree wholeheartedly, “you can’t be a liberal and a person of intellect. They are mutually exclusive.”

In new documentary Beatles Stories, Seaman tells filmmaker Seth Swirsky Lennon wasn’t the peace-loving militant fans thought he was while he was his assistant.

He says, “John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on (Democrat) Jimmy Carter – and because he believed Reagan’s policies were the best for America – and the world.”

“He’d met Reagan back, in the 70s at some sporting event… Reagan was the guy who had ordered the National Guard, I believe, to go after the young (peace) demonstrators in Berkeley, so I think that John maybe forgot about that… He did express solid support for Reagan, which shocked me.

“I also saw John embark in some really brutal arguments with my uncle, who’s an old-time communist. He enjoyed really provoking my uncle… Maybe he was being provocative… but it was pretty obvious to me he had moved away from his earlier radicalism.

“He was a very different person back in in the late 70s than he’d been when he wrote Imagine. By 1979 he looked back on that guy and was embarrassed by that guy’s naivete.”

U2’s lead singer, Bono, who is under fire for not paying his fair share of taxes in Ireland, said in a statement today that he agrees with Lennon, “you’d have to be a blithering buffoon to believe liberal economic policies.” Bono said that he would have voted for Bush and McCain. “The world is a economic disaster because of liberals.”